Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Samar Rep. Ben Evardone yesterday bared that he is considering filing
an impeachment case against Supreme Court Junior Associate Justice
Lourdes Sereno, the first appointee to the high court of President
Aquino, if he can be presented evidence against Sereno showing that she
failed to state her huge P25 million legal fees as the Philippine
government’s lawyer in the arbitration cases in the International
Chamber of Commerce court, both in Singapore and Washington, in her
Statement of Assets Liabilities, Networth (SALn).

In her summary
of her SALn, which she had submitted earlier, when there was pressure
from the House of Representatives through the House prosecutors for
impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona to bare his SALn, Sereno’s

networth
of some P17 million appeared to be less than what he had earned from
her professional fees as one of the Philippine government’s lawyers in
arbitrating the cases concerning the Philippine International Airport
Terminals Co. (Piatco) in the ICCin the case of Fraport AG, on the Ninoy
Aquino International Airport Terminal lll (NAIA-3) controversy..... MORE

The
Commission on Elections (Comelec) has asked, through a motion, the
Pasay Regional Trial Court (RTC) to order the transfer of the detained
former President, Rep. Gloria Arroyo, to a regular detention facility,
which would be the Pasay City Jail.

The former President is currently detained under medical arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez
revealed that the petition was included in a three page motion at the
sala of RTC 112 Judge Jesus Mupas where it asked the VMMC officials and
doctors to explain why the former president should still remain in the
hospital..... MORE

Despite
the recent frequent hype about the supposed improvement in the image of
the country during the administration of President Aquino resulting in
increased investments in the country and thus the creation of more jobs,
Aquino fell short of creating labor opportuni-ties for Filipinos, the
International Labor Organi-zation (ILO) said, warning that job
generation must be dealt with at once if the country wants to sustain
its economic growth.

Although employment growth in the Philippines
has remained “positive,” the ILO, in its annual report, said some 40.2
Filipino workers remain in a state of “vulnerable unemployment.”

Sluggish
employment rate, according to the ILO, stemmed from fluctuations in the
country’s gross domestic product growth (GDP) or the total value of the
country’s goods and services in 2011 and from back to back major
tropical storms that damaged agricultural production that displaced
large numbers of workers..... MORE

Fifteen
fishermen were reportedly killed by still unidentified armed men during
a strafing incident in Basilan province on Monday, belated reports
reaching Camp Aguinaldo said yesterday.

Military Western Mindanao
Command (Wesmincom) spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said that 18
fishermen aboard three fishing boats were fired upon by more or less six
armed men while fishing along the waters off Sibago Island in Mohammad
Ajul town around 7 a.m.

Quoting reports from the field, Cabangbang
said that 15 fishermen were reported killed during the attack while
three others survived, one of them, however, remains in critical
condition after sustaining gunshot wounds in the head and the back..... MORE

A
private lawyer representing anti-crime advocate Lauro Vizconde said the
Senate Impeachment Court trying Chief Justice Renato Corona should
seriously probe his client’s claim of lobbying by big law firms in the
high court should his client take the witness stand.

In a
statement, counsel Ferdinand Topacio who represents Vizconde urged the
Senate Court to use the impeachment to eliminate influence-peddling and
politics in the appointment of magistrates.

Vizconde’s testimony
is being eyed in the Senate Court to reiterate his claims that he was
granted an ex parte audience with Corona in the latter’s office shortly
before the decision in the Hubert Webb appeal was handed down by the
tribunal..... MORE

By Conrado Ching 01/25/2012
The Bureau of
Customs (BoC) has seized P37.5 million worth of chemicals and
laboratory equipment at the Port of Manila (PoM) which the bureau said
would be used in manufacturing methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

Commissioner
Ruffy Biazon said the contraband was stacked in six 20 footer container
vans in violation of the provisions of the Tariff and Customs Code of
the Philippines and the Dangerous Drugs Act of 1992.

“With our
determined and unrelenting anti-smuggling operations, smugglers’
resources will eventually dry up. Perhaps, when this happens, they will
now resort to legal means to earn a living,” Biazon said..... MORE

The
camp of Janelle Manahan said it welcomed the surrender to the National
Bureau of Investigation (NBI) of Ryan Pastera who was pinpointed by
other suspects as the person engaged by the Bautista siblings to hire
gunmen to carry out the assassination of Ramgen Revilla and Janelle
Manahan.

Pastera is a fraternity brod and best friend of Gail
Bautista’s husband, Hiro Furuyama. Pastera also served as either best
man or one of the groomsmen in last year’s wedding of Gail and Hiro who
are presently undergoing preliminary investigation before the Parañaque
City Prosecutor’s Office.

“Did Ryan Pastera really ‘surrender’ to
the NBI or was he in the company or custody of the NBI all this time?
The NBI could not deny providing Pastera special protection during the
preliminary investigation conducted sometime in November and December as
several NBI agents were caught on video escorting Pastera to the
Paranaque Prosecutor’s Office,” Janelle’s lawyer Argee Guevarra said..... MORE